Friday, July 27, 2012

What July 27th Means To Me: Chick-Fil-A and Kerfuffles

Wait, so the CEO of an American company is an asshole and made some assholic statements? ALERT THE PRESSES!

I don't think I've ever actually been to a Chick-fil-A. I know my brother used to frequent it on trips to the Paramus Park Mall 25 years ago, but I can't say for sure that I ever joined him. Nor have I visited the one that somewhat recently opened in Hollywood. So, I have zero allegiance to Chik-Fil-A; this is not a Kramer/Kenny Rogers Roasters situation.

As you probably know by now, the CEO of Chick-fil-a doesn't think much of gay people or their right to marry. He made some horridly insensitive comments on the subject, and it's known that the company, as a whole, roots itself in Christian beliefs. After all, Chick-fil-A isn't even open on Sundays. Due to this, there have been nationwide protests of the fast food joint, and some cities are even taking measures to block Chick-fil-A from setting up shop in their area, which is now raising all sorts of legal questions.

Anyone who knows me knows I disagree with everything the CEO said, and I probably disagree with every single thing that comes from his mouth period. But, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't this a free speech issue? And is there a sanctity of fast food chicken that suddenly needs protecting?

Americans strangely pick and choose their battles with assholes, especially when it comes to culture wars, vilifying some, while deifying others. But I think denying the right for someone to make a buck because of some personal beliefs is a slippery slope. Plus, from what I can tell, the best selling meal at Chick-fil-A isn't the "God Hates F*gs" Sandwich with a side of "I hope all gay people die of AIDS" fries. It's a company trying to sell you crappy, fast food chicken. That's it. If you take issue with the comments, there's a pretty simple solution: don't eat their crappy, fast food chicken.

Listen, 98 percent of the CEO's in America are complete assholes. They have to be. It takes an asshole to want that kind of power, and an asshole to get it. Yes, there are certain degrees of asshole, but I'm going to safely assume you use/buy products every single day from companies run by assholes. So if we collectively decide to boycott all products served to us by assholes, we'll be sitting around twiddling our thumbs all day until we just wither away and died.

So let's not lose our collective hair over Chick-fil-A. If you are offended, don't go. Tell your friends not to go. But I'm not sure its the right of the government to make that decision for us (as long as Chick-fil-A pays their taxes :)

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On another note, the Olympics has started! Which is great because I've so missed watching synchronized swimming. But in all seriousness, I enjoy the Olympics because the vast majority of the athletes involved perform out of the love of sport. Plain and simple. And should you ever be so lucky and talented to be an Olympic athlete, you can enjoy the fruits of this. My God, why didn't I get really good at archery or something?

2 comments:

My issue with Chick-Fil-A: "In fact, the company has strong, deep ties to anti-gay organizations like Focus on the Family and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and its charitable division has provided more than $1.1 million to organizations that deliver anti-LGBT messages and promote egregious practices like reparative therapy that seek to "free" people of being gay."